Project J (34 page)

Jesus put his hands together and touched his forehead.

“So much knowledge for one so young and so beautiful,” he said.

Chapter 62:
 
Basic Flaw

The next morning, a meeting of all department directors was convened by Stryker.
 
He immediately got down to business.

“All of you are aware of what has happened the last two days,” he said.
 
“Our pet T-Rex was killed and we found that, due to our use of entanglement, Jesus actually survived the crucifixion.”
 
He paused for a moment.
 
“Because of the danger inherent in entangling the past and present, I have decide that the Machine will be shut down.”

There were a few gasps, but others just nodded their heads.
 
No one objected aloud.

“Further, the Machine will self-destruct because of a basic flaw in the time entanglement theory.
 
A flaw that, hopefully, will prevent anyone from constructing another such machine in the future.

“Dr. Fielding and I have worked out the details of a plausible sounding explanation.
 
We can give you those details later.

“Project Dry Wells will be closed down.
 
I will push Chronodyne to find projects in other areas that you may work on.
 
Please feel free to take any of your findings with you, but nothing of the principles of the Machine.
 
It would be better were this to die right here and now.”

No one objected, but none seemed overly happy either.

“Needless to say, you will all keep the secret of what we have done here with regard to our guest,” he motioned to Jesus who was sitting there, translator to his ear.
 
“I am sure all of you can imagine the problems if news of his presence here got out.
 
We know that there was a leak, courtesy of Dr. Buerer, but we hope that can be allowed to die as Project Dry Wells closes.

“Dr. Fielding, do you have anything to add?”

“Only that it is too bad we cannot continue the project.
 
But there is no way that we can keep tight enough control over it to prevent misuse.”

“I quite concur,” Stryker said.
 
“The destruction of the Machine will occur at 3:12 pm tomorrow, so get anything you do not wish to have destroyed out of that building.
 
And...”

“May I make a suggestion?” called out Tamara, interrupting him.

“Well... of course.”

“I have been doing a lot of thinking about this,” she began in her auditor-lecturing-auditees voice, “and I suggest that you delay the closing of the project – for a few days at least.”

“And why is that?” Stryker asked.

Tamara explained.

Chapter 63:
 
Aftermath

The meltdown of the Machine was not very spectacular, at least not from the outside.
 
There was no explosion, the building was still standing, and, needless to say, no one was hurt.
 
But the machine inside was a total loss, most of it fused into useless lumps of metal and smoldering plastic and insulation.
 
Unfortunately, along with it, the Machine took most of the blueprints and other specifications one would need to rebuild it in a small fire that started from the main power overload.

Stryker spent a lot of time on the phone explaining to several government agencies why they could no longer have time on the Machine.
 
Then he had to explain to irate executives in Chronodyne what had happened and why it was not really his fault.
 
None of them questioned his explanation that a fluke of quantum entanglement theory caused the meltdown, and that it would happen again if another such machine were attempted.
 
But then, most of them had never understood what was going on anyway.
 
Fortunately, most of them also had no real knowledge of the extreme progress that time machine had made, including the distinguished guest they had hosted.

Stryker offered his resignation, as did Dr. Fielding, but both were turned down, most likely from fear that those two would go someplace else and make another time machine.
 
The process of finding new positions for the staff continued, with most of the academics finding positions in education or an assignment on the new project replacing Dry Wells.
 
It was supposed to be a continuation of the “cloning” done by the original project.
 
Work was immediately begun on using frozen mastodon tissue to clone wooly mammoths, and an attempt to continue Smiley’s line by mating him with assorted big cats.
 
That project was headed by Dr. Brown and located in the old Dry Wells facility.

Dr. Myers went back to teaching, this time at the University of Northern Arizona located in Flagstaff, which, not surprisingly, left him only a short drive to Jesus' cabin.

Tamara quit her job with the DOD and, after a long vacation, became an employee of Chronodyne.

Chapter 64:
 
Packing

Stryker was taking items out of his desk and putting them into a cardboard box when Fielding walked in.

“I guess this will be my office now,” he told his former boss.
 
“Did the higher ups find a project for you yet?”

Stryker paused in the packing.
 
“They offered me a small project in New York.
 
Research into junk DNA.
 
You know, what it is and what it does.
 
But, to be honest, most anything after this would be anti-climatic, wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah, guess so.”

“Maybe I’ll retire.
 
Get a small house in Florida and spend my time fishing.”

“You won’t do that and you know it,” Fielding stated flatly.

“No, guess you’re right.”
 
He put his refreshed personal bottle of whiskey into the box.
 
“But you know what scares me?”

“What?”

“The basic principle behind entanglement time displacement can be found in scientific literature.
 
You know, the theory behind the Machine is public knowledge.
 
Based, I’m told, on the work of two physicists, a Dr. Makato Kobayashi and Dr. Robert Laughli.
 
Any scientist can read their work.
 
In fact, Crane once told me that he was surprised no one else had come up with the principles behind the Machine.
 
He said it was not really that hard if you’re well versed in quantum entanglement.”

“Let’s just hope that no one tries this again,” was all Fielding could say.

“Got that right.
 
Want to go into town for lunch and a few drinks?”

“Sounds good to me.”

Chapter 65:
 
In the Pines

In the cool of late summer, among the Pondrosa pine forest of the Mogollon Rim south of Flagstaff, there was a newly built cabin nestled among the trees.
 
The house had a lovely view out over an alpine meadow and was reachable only via a winding dirt road.
 
It was far from any other inhabitation.

Tamara pulled up before the cabin in her new Jeep Wrangler and switched off the engine.
 
She regretted the fact that she could not take her Corvette along that road, but had accepted the gift of the new Jeep, which could take the ruts and turns of that dirt road easily.

She saw the older Jeep Cherokee parked there and knew that her friend, Dr. Myers, had already arrived.
 
Cheerfully, she opened the back of her Jeep and extracted several gaily wrapped packages.
 
At the front door of the cabin, she was met by Jesus with a smile on his face and open arms to greet her.
 
The packages deposited in a chair, she turned to greet the others.

Dr. Myers was seated in a comfortable recliner by the fireplace.
 
He nodded a greeting to her and continued sipping at his coffee.

Coming out of the kitchen was a young woman, hardly out of her teens, with long black hair and a wonderful smile on her face.
 
She greeted Tamara in Aramaic and hugged her.
 
There was no need to translate the words.

Two children ran up to her, addressing her as “Aunt Tamara,” and hugging her leg.
 
One was a smaller but exact image of her mother, about two years old.
 
The other was an older boy, but there was no mistaking that he had the same piercing eyes as his father.

Jesus waved his arm to the front room with its large picture window overlooking the meadow.
 
She sat down next to Myers.

“You’re looking good, Seymour,” she said.
 
“Hope you’re doing well.”

“Okay, if you don’t count arthritis and dumb freshman students who can’t read or write,” he replied with a smile.

Jesus came up and offered her a large cup of hot peppermint tea.
 
“You didn’t have to get that, Jesus.
 
I could have.”
 
She simply was not used to being served by Jesus himself.

The boy stood before Tamara and proudly announced, “I speak English good now.”

“Yes, you do.
 
And happy birthday, Judas.
 
You’re four years old today!
 
I have presents for you.”

His eyes eagerly turned to the wrapped packages.
 
A couple others were sitting on the floor, one large enough to hold a small bicycle.

“I see you bought it, just as you promised,” she said to Myers.
 
He smiled.
 
Turning to Jesus, she added, “I have some more boxes of food for you in the Jeep.
 
And a couple additional blankets now that summer is almost over.
 
It gets cold up her during winter.”

“Thank you,” he said.
 
“May God’s blessing be upon you.”

“And you,” she replied, reflecting that this man, who had been through so much, was coming to blame himself less for his perception that he failed God somehow.
 
But she doubted that he ever would get totally over it.

“Can I open the presents now?” asked Judas.
 
Deborah, the two year old, came up to Tamara and stood there looking up at her.
 
The child had the sweet smile of her mother, and, for just a moment, she felt a pang of regret that she had not gotten around to being a mother herself.
 
Maybe someday.

“Yes, you can, now that your aunt and uncle are here,” Jesus told him.
 
Tamara had automatically turned on her translator when she arrived.
 
Jesus was learning more and more English but he and his family still spoke mostly Aramaic.
 
It was a blessing that the translators were no longer dependent on a wireless network.
 
All the databases and software were contained within.

Judas hurried off for the presents, and soon there was the sound of ripping paper.

Tamara sipped at her tea and felt very content.
 
She was very happy that a few months before she had, even though not a Chronodyne employee, stood up and insisted that they use the Machine to bring forward Jesus’ family before it was destroyed.
 
It had been quite a shock for Mary.
 
But with Jesus there to ease her through the adjustment, she adapted quickly.
 
The children were young enough to have less cultural shock, and, again, there was their father present to help them.
 
Quickly enough they were happy with the clean beds and new clothing and amazing variety of foods they were introduced to.
 
Not to mention toys, the likes of which they had never seen.
 
Tamara was pleased to see that soft, cuddly Teddy bears appealed to children of all time periods.
 
Judas had expressed joy that there were not all those “bad” men bothering his father.

Tamara knew that Mary did not understand what had happened to her, Jesus and the children, but she seemed to accept that, as her husband told her, it was good magic.

She also knew that originally Mary and Jesus had talked a great deal about that last week in Jerusalem, and about the expectations they had and the failure of them to come true.
 
She could only hope that the two of them would get over a lifetime of beliefs and have a happy life.
 
It also bothered her that the life they would have in the present was uncertain.
 
If something happened to any of them in the past, it would happen to them in the present.
 
But then, life is uncertain under the best of circumstances, she told herself.
 
Might as well get on with living and not worry.

Jesus was over helping Judas to unwrap the bike, and Mary was holding Deborah.

“Oh, you may wish to know that I got a copy of the report Jacques made,” Myers said.

Tamara immediately turned to him.
 
“And...?”

“Jacques spent most of the night tracking Jesus and Mary in the past.
 
His report says that they stayed with Joseph until Jesus was able to travel.
 
Then the whole family, along with some of his followers who were trusted, traveled down to Egypt and settled in a small town not far from Alexandria.
 
There was a large Jewish settlement there, quite a few of whom were Essenes.
 
As far as he could follow them, they stayed there.
 
Hopefully, they will – no, make that hopefully they did – not try to go back to Jerusalem.

Tamara sighed contently.
 
She had been worried that Jesus might have been found out, or, even worse, tried to return to Galilee or Jerusalem.
 
She would discuss with Myers about helping Jesus to travel and see the world as he often expressed a desire to.
 
Maybe, after he and his family become more accustomed to this time, he could have that visit to the Temple in Jerusalem, or what was left of it.
 
She would like very much to go with him on that trip.

Judas was happily playing with his new toys.
 
Mary had returned to the kitchen from which pleasant smells were emanating.

Tamara reached over and put her hand on Myers’.
 
From the look in his eyes, she knew that he felt the same.
 
Things had worked out well after all.

When the time came for dinner, Jesus said a very nice grace that was part Jewish and part Christian.
 
Then they sat down to enjoy a meal and friendship.
 
And some fine wine from the extensive collection in Jesus’ basement.

The End